Yankees To Sign Andruw Jones

The Yankees agreed to sign Andruw Jonesto a one-year deal, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). The Scott Boras client signed for $2MM and can make up to $1.2MM more by reaching incentives.

The Yankees were looking for an outfielder who can hit lefties and can handle left and center field. Outfielders Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner both bat from the left side, so Jones, a right-handed hitter, will spell them against tough southpaws. He has an .863 OPS against lefties in his career, including a .931 mark in 2010. The 33-year-old hit 19 homers for the White Sox last year, playing all three outfield positions.

The Rays, Rockies and Braves were among the teams that showed interest in Jones this offseason. Meanwhile, Johnny Damon, a rumored alternative for the Yankees, will presumably have to seek employment elsewhere. The Angels could use an outfielder with on-base skills, so they are one possible suitor for Damon.

Thames’ average will be quickly overshadowed by his horrendous fielding. Someone should have reminded Ned that there are no DHs in the NL. Plus Thames’ career batting avg is a whopping .248, nothing to write home about.

not really considering he kills lefties and can run the bases 9 for 9 in stolen..at worst throw 2-3 caught stealing in there…and he plays a average CF now a days and a+++ left and right field..in other words unless a team has an up and coming OF prospect that is at the AAAA level they want to ease in then go with that or go with someone like jones who is a perfect 4th of

the fact that he isnt a lefty is what makes it more possible for him to hit around if not more than 20…with gardner and granderson being lefties he will be the first guy off the bench to pinch hit for them or start for them…

He could possibly challenge Swisher for a starting job in spring training. Also, if Posada, Martin, Swisher, Granderson, or Gardner gets hurt, Jones will see more playing time. Third, Yankee Stadium is the perfect place for Jones to crush the ball.

Under, but only because of questionable playing time. Jones is going to be really good in the role he’ll have with that team. He would have been a perfect signing for the Phils. I’m already cringing at the Dom Brown/Ben Fran duo in right….

Or he could’ve gone around Cashman and called Levine’s cell: “Hey buddy, Randy. Your GM is being difficult again. But you and I know very well that Andruw is a championship caliber player. So how about you and I strike a deal eh?

Definitely less than I expected. With all the news coming out about Soriano, I half expected the week to end with Hal stepping in and giving him $7 million AAV over two years with a third year option at $5MM for hitting 100 plate appearances over the first two years.

As a Yankees fan I personally like the quiet Yankees offseason. Martin and Jones are both good (and cheap) acquisitions. Soriano was a slightly questionable signing for me, simply based on the money and his injury history (albeit not as of late). The only things that worries me is going into 2011 with Sergio Mitre lined up to be the 5th starter…

Even if you factor in the fact that Mitre has some relief work in there, you also have to take into consideration that Galarraga had one campaign that he pitched completely over his head. He’s not enough of an upgrade to justify the pickup.
And on top of that, Galarraga has homer issues at Comerica… Imagine that at Yankee Stadium! 😮

I still would rather go with Galarraga. It’s an absolute “lightning in a bottle” attempt but I’ve seen all I want to see of Mitre. As long as they give up nothing (meaning garbage minor leaguer w/ zero upside) then he’s worth bringing in to compete for a spot. At worst, a roogy/spot starter.

haha in all honesty 2-5 could all be cause for concern but I know they’re gonna stick with Hughes and Burnett so I’m not gonna worry about them too much. They did fine last year when Burnett was awful and Hughes was just all right.

CC = good
Hughes = perhaps inconsistent, but I think he’ll have a strong season
AJ = Bounce back year…not saying he’ll be a sub 3 ERA, but he’ll be 3.50 – 4.10, put up a respectable win count
Nova = Not sure how I feel
Sergio = won’t be in our starting rotation come opening day…I just can’t imagine that will occur.

It sure was a dumb comment. If the season was done it would be the end of October and from a real historical perspective we don’t have many snow storms (two words) in either October or November. The season would be also done in December, January, February etc though. I don’t even know who this Burnette guy is and if we sign him to take over Burnett’s spot and he posts a 3.50, I will hop in my NASCAR and drive to the Coca Cola plant itself and get you a fresh one off of the line. Coke and a smile

IMO (based on the 2009 final pitching stats) if Hughes can replace Pettitte’s 14 wins and Soriano can replace Hughes and Feliciano replace Phil Coke in the bull pen you basically have the same production from their pitching staff.

He’s not using wins in a “this pitcher vs that pitcher” comparison or qualitative manner. What he is saying, is that a Yankee pitcher with a not so great ERA of 4.50 can still win 10+ gams for the Yankees considering their offense.

with the jet stream in right field and jones being able to spray them all over the field i would not be surprised to see 20 hrs from him…he should get pretty even playing time giving time off to swish, granderson, and gardner

If by “spray them all over the field” you mean be a dead pull hitter to left, I’ll agree with you. ‘Druw hasn’t sprayed right field since David Justice made him blow Coke out of his nose in the playoffs.

Uh…why? I think that people still see Andrew Jones as the player he once was. He is not going to pinch hit for Granderson or Gardner, especially in any big spots. Also, who is to say that Jones can adapt to being a permanent bench player.

Granderson might shock us this year. As much as being said of Jones he doesn’t post a very good avg/obp vs lefties. Granderson made huge strides last year vs lefties after his August lessons with Long. Would love to see if he can carry it over.

According to UZR the OF of Yanks ranked 5th in UZR, 4th in UZR/150 and 4th in RangeRuns. If you want to go old school they are tied for 3rd in Field%, 5th in fewest errors, 9th in most assists and top 5 in “I seen it wit my own peepers, and theys good”.

Not sure how else we can evaluate them. Individually Swisher was the only one that didn’t rank at least top 10.

Great deal by cash, only 2 million for a year of good defense and good pop. Now all they might need (besides starters) is a utility guy. I hope they move Joba back to the rotation i don’t care what anyone says, he will pitch better then either Nova and Mitre can. Considering how low Joba’s value is right now, and he’s going to be the 7th inning guy right now, if he pitches to a 4 era and goes close to 200 innings, that will greatly increase his value. And maybe he can go out and pitch as well as he showed he could as a starter in the minors.

A platoon of Granderson against righties and Jones against lefties (and switching Gardner to center against lefties) would actually be pretty darn good offensively. Defensively, the Yankees should be thanking Mo that Gardner is fast because with Swisher in RF and Jones in LF, he’ll need to be fast.

The Mets are like the little brother who saw the bigger brother come out of the shower naked and had a permanent sense of inadequacy because he knew how difficult it would be to live up to the standard set.

Would have rather signed Vlad to be a 4th outfielder/DH. Jones’ defense has dropped considerably over the past few years, nevermind what he used to be, and Vlad’s still got an EXCELLENT bat. You’ll see more of Jones as a DH than a 4th outfielder if you ask me, and I’d rather have Vlad in that situation who still has an awesome arm as well.

A) I doubt Vlad would’ve agreed to sign on as a 4th OF. b) AJ played over 100 innings at each OF position last year vs Vlad who barely posted over 100 at RF and less than 12 innings at any other position. Being able to play multiple positions is sort of a prerequisite for being a 4th OF. c) Why would you expect to see more of Jones as a DH when clearly Posada has already told he will be the primary DH this year and is capable of flourishing at the position?

its funny that we have 2 holes in the rotation and we are here arguing whether our 4TH outfielder is going to save the team or not. Is he what he was when he was in Atlanta? no. but thats not why the yanks signed him. he may be one of the better bench players in the game though,
and for all the people who are talking about how well he is going to do? if we have to rely on andruw jones to save the team then we have more issues that him as our 4th outfielder

Gives the Yanks a ton of flexiblity…I like the move for the big picture. Kind of reminds me of seeing the Yanks grab Cecil Fielder or Strawberry in the mid 90’s. Between Martin, Posada, Cerville, Montero at C/DH and now all 4 OFers, Giradi has a lot of different options to use. I would really like to see a utility IF that can sub at 3b/SS/2B with some speed. A Chrone Figgins type player, not with that contract Yanks use to have guys like Andy Fox/Homer Bush that were great role players that could fill in wherever. Hopefully Nunez can be that guy next year. Also remember this move can open up Tex to take a day off or two, move Swish to 1B and then put Jones out in RF.

Biggest concern is in watching the Best Thing I Ever Ate. I watch that show all the time and it seems like each episode has at least 1 or 2 places from NY. Hopefully Andruw “I became a beached whale” Jones has not caught any of that show yet

Jones is a solid player, he is a 4th outfield. most likely going to play left field when he plays. Jones became to lazy and that’s how he became big, if he played like he did when he was young he would be untouchable.

Jones will hit a .275 average with 18-ish home runs, and 50 RBI. The Yankees have the best outfield in baseball except Texas, maybe Boston and maybe Philly. They got Jones to pinch hit and to play against lefties. Honestly, he’s a nice addition, but I would definitely rather have a good starting pitcher.

Seriously, Andruw Jones as your 4th outfielder would be fine, if Gardner and Swisher weren’t the guys in front of him…Yanks have NO bat…No pop in the lineup. We didn’t have it last year and we still don’t have it this year…This is the same team that couldn’t get the job done last year and DIED down the stretch…Still need SP. Brian Cashman is an IDIOT. Unless ARod decides he wants to go back to his MVP ways, this team is going to contend with the O’s in the AL East…..Its going to be a hard year to be a Yankees fan.

Silliness. They scored the most runs in baseball last year and that’s with Posada banged up and subpar years from Tex, Arod, Jeter and Granderson. Posada should hit better without having to catch. Granderson should do better. After his mid season counseling from Long, he was much improved with the bat. Hopefully he can carry it over. Jeter is getting extra offseason work with Long and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him bounce back. And Tex and Arod should do better since they will be healthier. The Yanks just got cold at the wrong time (in the postseason). It happens…

I think you missed my point. He’s going to be through and through a bench player. He was practically a starter in Chicago with that amount of appearances and Texas is more favorable to righties than Yankee Stadium. If he were a starter or batted lefty, I could see him potentially approaching 20, but the odds of him playing enough games to hit twenty are slim. Unless he starts pretty much every game the Yankees play in Fenway and Arlington, I don’t see him topping 15.

Yeah I know what you mean projections, but since he’s lost weight and actually gotten in shape, I honestly think he’ll have a resurgence of some sort. I think he’s too good of a player to not come back from a few bad years. I would have liked for him to go back to the Braves, but he’ll fit in fine with the Yanks